Life is Art 2014 Open Planning Meeting

Life Is Art invites you to our 2014 open planning meeting. We will be talking about our upcoming programs and all the different ways you can get involved. Life Is Art is dedicated to building the community with the arts and culture, in both a local and a global sense. We are expanding our mission and that means we need to expand our team. Everyone is welcome to come and learn how you can get involved!

Thank You to The News Lounge for being our host sponsor!

More Information

What does Life Is Art do?Life Is Art was founded back in January of 2009. At that time, we saw that, while Miami seemed to be experiencing a growing art scene, with all the new fairs, festivals and galleries, the artists of Miami were being left behind. Few of them were given the opportunity to show in these fairs, festivals, galleries and museums in Miami. Having an even-production background, we decided to start an organization to help these artists get exposure and to educate them on how to take advantage of it. We have since been expanding that mission to do more to help build the community as a whole.

We produce a really wide variety of events. We have some standard programs, as well as a number of one-off type events. The River Of Art program is a combination art show and business networker. These are designed to provide a dynamic atmosphere for making business connections, to promote local businesses and to showcase local artists. They generally happen monthly, depending on what else we have going on. We host them at locally-operated restaurants, lounges and bars. They include a show of 3-5 artists. We are skipping January, but will restart them in February.

The Art/Work Connections program is a series of business seminars for artists and those working in the arts. These are also once a month and we bring in an expert each month on a different aspect of the business of art, such as financials, contract negotiation, marketing, social media, etc. We host these mostly at galleries. This provides us the opportunity to promote the local galleries, too. January 14 is the next one, which feature social media expert Patrick Barbanes talking about how to build your social media following and then transfer those followers to your email list.

We have also produced a large number of one-off events, fairs and festivals over the past few years. PhilanthroFest was born out of Life Is Art, as well. It has since been spun off into its own organization.

We are planning on growing into more large-scale events.

The Art/Work Conference is planned to be a follow-up to the seminar series, being an annual weekend business conference. We are planning the first of these for February 2015. We hope to grow this to be an international conference about the business of art.

We are planning a big music festival tentatively called M.A.C.C.Fest for November 2014. Also planned to be an annual event, this will feature local music, art, culture and community organizations.

We are also planning an art fair, not during Art Basel. This is only in the preliminary stages, but the idea is to bring in international artists with local artists to showcase what we have to offer to the world. We want this to be an “off-season” event, to spread the art out across the year.

We will continue to do one-off events as opportunities arise. We are a very collaborative organization, always looking for ways to work with and support other organizations. We are fast and flexible, modifying our business as the world changes around us, finding new needs and niches when they come about.

How can you get involved?
Life Is Art has a wide variety of ways for people to get involved in our mission of creating positive change in our community and the world. We have created different teams to fit any schedule and level of experience. Volunteers may join multiple teams.

We are looking for serious and committed community members to join our teams. Please do not sign up if you are not sure you can handle the responsibility. We are truly creating something amazing here and that takes lots of work. Joining our team will be rewarding in ways you cannot imagine, in terms of learning, making connections and being a part of an awesome team.

Implementation Team
This is our favorite team so we list this one first! Whenever a barge needs lifting or a bail needs toting, you are the ones scurrying to haul and hoist. The implementation team are those people who are on the ground at the events, making things happen. You may be taking registrations at the front table, putting up tables and chairs, taking down decorations, watching over the art, handling the performers or any other of innumerable tasks that are required for creating amazing events. This position requires no special skills or experience (though we welcome it, if you have it). It does require responsibility and energy. Time requirements are one or two orientation meetings for the large events and then the actual time at the event. Some of the smaller events are monthly, while the big events are annual or one-off.

Planning Teams
These teams are program-specific and tasked with organizing, executing and gathering resources for their program. Each program will have its own planning team. Members may be on multiple planning teams. This is a great option for those with experience in the arts, music, fashion, design or event production fields. It is also good for those with contacts for resources, such as grants, sponsors, participants (artists, musicians, etc) or attendees. Planning teams have semi-regular meetings, depending on the needs of the programs, but never more than once a month.

Host Committees
The host committees are also program-specific and are tasked with gathering resources for their program, which could include sponsorships, grants, attendees, contacts, participants and performers. Time commitments are light for these committees. Committee members generally have one or two meetings per year per program, but rarely more. They also need to attend the annual general meeting. This option is good for people with lots of good contacts, but that may not have a lot of available time.

Board of Advisers
The Board of Advisers has the most responsibility and is the most time-intensive of all the options available. The BoA is responsible for supporting all the different programs and the organization, in general, from a broad standpoint. They may be called upon to use their knowledge, experience or contacts for specific program needs, if appropriate, but will also be key in developing the capacity and growth of the organization as a whole. Because their duties are so broad, the time-commitment here is possibly the highest of any of the teams. BoA team members generally attend one meeting a month to keep in touch with what is going on in the organization. Members of this team should have good knowledge and experience in one or more of the following areas: the creative industries, art, music, fashion or design, event production, non-profits, or business. Useful skills are highly desired, such as accounting, legal, governmental, artistic or leadership.

We are always open to new ideas, so if you have a thought for another way you would like to get involved, please drop us a line and let us know!